Climate change and ethics

I first met Don Brown at a climate conference many years ago and was so impressed by his scholarship.  Don is Scholar In Residence and Professor Sustainability Ethics and Law, Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He argues about the ethics and justice issues related to climate change in a powerful and convincing manner.  This short introduction provides a link to an excellent blog he has prepared for the Warsaw Conference.  It is well worth the read.

 The Ethical and Justice Issues At the Center of the Warsaw Climate Change Negotiations-Issue 2, Equity and National GHG Emissions Reductions Commitments in the Medium- to Long-Term

Perhaps the most important item on the Warsaw climate negotiations is whether the international community can make progress on agreeing to a global solution to climate change in the form of a new treaty which will be completed in 2015 to come into effect in 2020.

As scientists are telling the international community that the world is running out of time to limit warming to 2 degrees, the international community is faced with several urgent civilization challenging ethics and justice issues. A new paper, looks at the ethical and justice issues on the table in Warsaw in regard to medium-and long-term national ghg emissions reductions commitments. This paper explains why the ethical and equity issues have not only great moral significance but practical importance.

The paper is the third in a series on Ethicsandclimate.org [ethicsandclimate.org]  on ethical issues the world is facing in  Warsaw.  The paper is: The Ethical and Justice Issues At the Center of the Warsaw Climate Change Negotiations-Issue 2, Equity and National GHG Emissions Reductions Commitments in the Medium- to Long-Term.

The paper also argues what should be done in light of the fact that few nations are showing an appetite to response to their ethical obligations.